Thanks to the Scottish Book Trust's Live Literature Scotland scheme Felicity Bramwell, the librarian was able to organise visits by several writers to the Uists.

Cathy Forde from Glasgow, who writes books for young adults visited all three secondary schools.
Her descriptions of the sources of her inspiration ranged from humorous to disgusting, from the story of her escaped snake and what it got up to, to a violent and disturbing incident that took place at her local shopping centre where a man had his legs and arms broken with hammers by drug dealers!
The children responded with stories of their own – some almost as dramatic! It is hoped the visit will have started some of them on the road to becoming writers themselves.

There were also workshops with senior pupils with Gaelic poet Anne Frater, and with Tessa Ransford, who writes poems in English.

Tessa, the founder of the Scottish Poetry Library, was also able to do an evening Poetry Reading at Taigh Chearsabhagh, sharing her recent poems inspired by the beauty of the environment.
To read more about the event see next week's Stornoway Gazette out on Thursday, September 25.